As expected, Caitlin Clark was the first overall pick at the 2024 WNBA Draft. She was named the Indiana Fever, who even before the draft had received as many as 36 out of 40 games in live national coverage for the 2023-24 regular season. Clark is considered a true revolution for women’s basketball, which has received almost unprecedented attention in recent weeks. It is no coincidence that the women’s NCAA Tournament final, in which they were defeated by South Carolina, was more watched than the men’s counterpart for the first time in its history.
In the past few hours Clark was introduced at a press conference as a new Fever player. Among the many questions, however, there was an exchange deemed inappropriate by many. One reporter, Gregg Doyel of the Indy Star, directed toward Clark (out of frame) the gesture the player makes at the end of her games: a heart made with her hands. “Do you like it?” Clark asked the man. The reporter replied: “I like that you are here.”.
At that point Caitlin Clark clarified: “It is a gesture I make to my family at the end of every game.”. And it was here that the man addressed the new Fever star with the incriminating phrase: “Start doing it toward me and we will get along very well.”. There was some giggling in the room, while Clark remained virtually impassive and did not comment.
By many, the sentence addressed by the journalist to Clark was deemed inappropriate, some even spoke of a verbal harassment of him, as the journalist Tamerra Griffin.
Reporter: 🫶
Caitlin Clark: “You like that?”
Reporter: “I like that you’re here.”
Caitlin: “Yeah, I do that at my family after every game.”
Reporter: “Start doing it to me and we’ll get along just fine.”
Caitlin: 😳
(via @IndianaFever / YT)pic.twitter.com/BBjU881K7a
– ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 17, 2024
As the controversy erupted, Doyel publicly apologized to Clark himself with an article in the Indy Star titled: “Caitlin Clark, I am so sorry. I was part of the problem on Wednesday.”.
Milan, Italy. A graduate in Labor Management and Communication for Organizations from Catholic University, I founded BasketUniverso in 2011. Yes, I root for Orlando Magic and do my best not to hide it.
